Hand-operated hat-rounding machine



5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

0. 1-1. REID.

(No Model.)

V HAND OPERATED HAT ROUNDING MACHINE. No. 570,734. Patented Nov. 3,1896.

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3739 55 38 a WQL F 16 8 WlTNESSES: Z INVENTUR (No Model 5 Sheets-Sheet2.

. G. H REID. HAND OPERATED HAT ROUNDING MACHINE. No. 570,734. PatentedNov. 3,- 1896.

WITNESSES: mvamon I ATTORNEY THE "cams PEYERS cu. FNCflO-UTHQ,WASHINGTON. a c

5 Sheets-Sheet 3,'

(No Model.)

G. H. REID, HAND, OPERATED HAT ROUNDING MACHINE.

Patented Nov. 3', 1896.

' INVENTOR ATTORNEY WITNESSES ms scams Pcrgws wv PHOTO-LYING. wAsummN.n, c.

(No Model.) 5 Shets-Sheet4.

G. H. REID.

HAND OPERATED HAT ROUNDING MAGHINE.

No. 570,734. I Patented Nov. 3, 1896.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR BY WW ATTORNEY 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.,

(No Model.)

0111, REID. HAND OPERATED HAT ROUNDING MACHINE. No, 570,734.

PagtentedNjov. 3, 1896.

I INVENTOR WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY Tn: mums PETERS co. mm'o-Lm'u. vusnms'ron. n. r.

UNITED STATES CHARLES HENRY REID, OF

HAN D-OPERATED HAT- DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

ROUNDING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,734, dated November8, 1896.

Application filed August 7, 1895.

To all whont it ntay concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES HENRY REID, a citizen of the United States,residing at Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Operated Hat- Roundin g Machines; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inhat-rounding machines, but more particularly relates to machines of thisdescription which are operated by hand as distinguished frompower-machines.

In hand-machines considerable time is lost in properly adj ustingtherounding-knife with respect to the brims of hats of different sizes,since after a rounded hat has been removed from the clamp and anotherhat of a different size substituted thereon the operator is obliged toadjust the rounding-knife so that it will trim off the brim to theproper width, and such adjustment must necessarily be dependent upon thejudgment of the operator.

As a rule the brims of hats are uniformly proportionate to the sizes ofthe hats, and it is only when the general style of the hat is changedthat it becomes necessary to make any alterations in the brimsirrespective of the sizes of the hats.

It is the object of my present improvement to insure uniformity in therounding of hatbrims upon machines in which the adj ustment of therounding-knife is automatically dependent upon the size of the hat, afurther object of my improvement being to improve upon the constructionshown and described in Letters Patent No. 237,128, issued to me onFebruary 1, 1881.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertainsmay more fully understand its construct-ion and operation, I willproceed to describe the same in detail, referring by numbers to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which-Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved machine; Fig. 2, a plan view;Fig. 3, a section at the line no of Fig. 1; Fig. 4:, a section at SerialNo. 558,504. (No model-l the line b b of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a section atthe line 3 y of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, an elevation, partly sectioned away, atthe line a a of Fig. 2; and Fig. 7 a section at the line .2 z of Fig. 2.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

All the parts of my improved machine, with the exception of those thatare immediately connected with the proper movements of therounding-knife, are the same both as to construction and operation asthe corresponding parts shown and described in my Letters Patcut abovereferred to, and I will not enter into any description of said parts,but will merely refer to the same by numbers of reference and willbriefly state their function.

1 is the standard of the machine, of any suitable shape, which isattached to any ordinary bench or supporting-platform by means of a bolt2. This standard is provided with a vertically-disposed hollow hub 3,within which is secured, by means of the set-screw 5, thevertically-extending hollow bushing 4.

6 is a swinging frame which supports the appliances for rounding thehat, which frame has a hollow hub 7, that loosely surrounds thehollowbushing 4, so as to be capable of a free swinging movement, andrests upon the hub 3.

8 is the hat-.supportin g platform, which has depending therefrom ahollow hub 9, which latter is tightly secured around the bushing 4.Depending from this platform is an annulus 10, to which is secured bymeans of a v the arms, so that when the latter are pro jected saidplates will conform to the inner contour of the hat-body and securelyhold the same.

17 is a spindle within the hollow bushingat and capable of a freerotation, the upper end of said spindle being secured by means of a pin18 to the scroll-wheel 14, whereby when said spindle is revolved inopposite directions the clamp-plates will be expanded or contracted, asthe case may be.

19 is a hand-wheel secured to the lower extremity of the spindle forconvenient operation of the same, and 20 is a screw secured around saidspindle immediately below the bushing 4, so that it will be readilyunderstood that said spindle is confined as against any lengthwisemovement by means of the screw and the scroll-wheel.

21 is the main slide, which is capable of a free horizontal movementwithin suitable hearings in the frame 6, and secured to the bottom ofsaid slide in the usual manner, as set forth in said Letters Patent, isthe shoeblock 22.

is the shoe, which is pivoted to the block 22 and whose toe 24 isnormally in engagement wit-h the templet and whose heel is slotted, soas to afford a vertically-extending elongated gate 25, which normallyregisterswith a similar gate 26 in the shoe-block.

27 is a hollow handle which extends from the frame 6, and within thishandle is a coilspring 28, confined at its extremities between the outerend wall of said handle and an angle-plate 29, which depends from theslide 21, so that it will be readily understood that the action of thisspring will tend to normally force the slide 21 forward, so as to keepthe shoe 24 in constant engagement with the templet.

30 is a carriage adapted to slide in suitable ways in the main slide 21and having in its inner end and extending therethrough from top tobottom a circular perforation3l.

32 is a head-block which rests upon the carriage 30 and has dependingfrom its inner end a stud 33, which closely fits within the circularhole 31, so that said block will be capable of a free swinging movement.This stud is slotted, (not shown,) and within this -slotted portion aflat bar 34 is pivoted, as shown at 35, and extends downwardly throughthe gates 26 and 25 in the block 22 and shoe 23, respectively. The widthof the slots 26 25 is such that the bar 34 is closely embraced by theside walls of the slot 25, while considerable clearance is left betweensaid bar and the side walls of theslot 26, so that it will be clear thatany rocking movement of the shoe around its pivotal point will becommunicated through the medium of said bar to the block 32, all ofwhich forms no part of my present invention, but is clearly set forth inmy Letters Patent above referred to.

Pivoted at 36 to the block 32 is the knife carrier 37, in the inner endof which is secured the knife 38 in the usual manner. 39

is the usual latch-bar secured around the pivot 36, and 40 is a lock-pinwhich extends loosely through the head-block 32 and engages with a notchor suitable opening 41 in a downward extension 42 from the carrier, inorder to lock the latter in its lowest or operativeposition.

\Vhen the rounding of a hat-brim is completed, the pin 40 is simplywithdrawn from the extension 42 and the carrier swung back out of theway preparatory to the placing of a succeeding hat in proper positionfor rounding.

lVith the exception of the screw 20, secured around the spindle 17, allthe parts which I have heretofore described are the same both as totheir construction and function as the corresponding parts shown anddescribed in my Letters Patent above referred to, and I will nowdescribe my present improvement, which latter is identified solely withthe rounding-knife and the manner of adjusting the same independent ofthe general movements which are imparted to the knife directly from thetemplet.

Besides the general movements of the knife in performing the roundingoperation and controlled directly from the templet I provide for twoadjustments of said knife, as follows:

It is a well-known fact that the greater the size of the hat the fartheraround the scrollwheel14 must be turned in order to effect the clamping,and it is also true that in the same style or block of hats the width ofthe brim increases in proportion to the size of the hat.

43 is a collar loose around the bushing 4 and capable of a verticalsliding movement, and 44 is a groove in the periphery of said collar.

45 is a nut around the screw 20 and having a flange 46. 47 are boltswhich connect said flange and collar, so that any travel of the nut 45will be communicated to said collar. These bolts pass loosely throughthe standard 1 in order to lock the nut and collar as against rotarymovement, while at the same time permit their free vertical travel.

43 is a bracket which depends laterally from the main slide 21, and tothe lower end of this bracket at 49 is pivoted a bell-crank lever 50,one leg of which latter extends in a vertical plane, while the other legextends in a horizontal plane.

51 is a shoe pivoted at 52 to the inner face of the horizontal leg ofthis lever and extending within the groove 44 in the collar 43, so thatit will be readily understood that said shoe is capable of a freemovement lengthwise of said groove, while at the same time the leverandthe shoe are free to rock relatively owing to the pivotal connectionwith the shoe. The upper end of the vertical leg of this bellcrank leveris provided with an elongated vertically-disposed slot 53, within whichis a block 54, capable of a free sliding movement.

55 is a small screw-bolt which passes through a properly-threadedopening in the top of said vertical leg and is swiveled at its lower endin anysuitable manner to the block 54,whereby when said screw isoperated the block will be adjusted up and down within the slot 53 forthe purpose presently explained.

56 is a block within a suitable elongated guideway 57 in the slidingcarriage 30, and 58 is a screw which extends loosely through saidcarriage and passes through a properlythreaded opening in said block,said screw being confined at the outer end of the carriage as againstany lengthwise movement in the usual manner, so that it will be clearthat the turning of this screw will cause the carriage to slide, whilethe block will of course remain stationary.

59 is a head-block which is secured by means of screws 60 to the top ofthe block 56, and 61 is a slide adapted to reciprocate in suitablevertical ways in the block 59 and provided with a circular stud 62,which extends through a corresponding opening in the block 54. It willtherefore be clear that when the lever 50 is rocked around its pivotalpoint 49 the sliding carriage 30 will thereby be reciprocated in itsways, the slide 61 rising or falling, as the case may be, to compensatefor the variation in the horizontal level of the block 54.

The operation of my improvement during the rounding of a hat is asfollows: The hat is placed upon the clamp, the hand-wheel 19 operated toforce the plates 15 16 firmly against the inside of the hat-crown, thebrim of the hat placed between the carrier 37 and latch-bar 39, and saidcarrier dropped to its lowest position and locked by means of the pin40. The screw 58 is now operated to adjust the sliding carriage 30, sothat the knife 38 will be brought into its proper normal position withrespect to the widthof brim to be rounded. The operator now grasps thehandle 27 and swings the frame 6 around, the templet 12 and spring 28meanwhile coopcrating in connection with the shoe-block 22 to effect theproper ovoidal contour described by the knife. hen the hand-wheel 19 isoperated to release a hat, the screw 20 will force the nut downward,thereby lowering the collar 43 and causing the upper or vertical leg ofthe lever to swing inward, carrying with it the sliding carriage 30, andthus bring the knife 38 to the limit of its inward or projectedmovement. lVhen a succeeding hat is placed upon the clamp, thehand-wheel is operated to force the plates 15 16 against the hat to holdthe same, thereby causing the sliding carriage 30 and the knife 38 to beretracted 'to their normal outermost positions. In rounding hats of thesame style and size the extent throughout which the spindle 17 must beturned is fixed and positive; that is to'say, the scroll-wheel 14 isturned throughout the same are; but when hats of the same style but ofdifferent sizes are rounded the arcs throughout which the scroll-wheelis turned vary according to the size of the hat. For instance, if alarger size follows a smaller size the hand wheel 19 must be turnedthroughout a greater extent to properly op erate the scroll-wheel toclamp the hat, and therefore in clamping such a hat the collar 43 willbe carried farther upward and the upper leg of the lever 50 will beswung fartherbackward, thus carrying the cutting-knife farther out onthe brim; As before stated, however, there is a certain proportionbetween the size of the hat and the width of the brim in the varioussizes of the same style of hat, and therefore there is a fixedproportion between the extent throughout which the scroll-wheel isrevolved to clamp a hat and the extent of movement of the knife eifectedprimarily from the spindle 17. It will thus be readily understood thatthe knife always moves automatically in harmony with the clampingmechanism and that the normal inner and outer, positions of said knife,after the proper adjustment with respect to a certain style of hat hasonce been made, are automatically effected by the operation of theclamping mechanism.

In building a machine, were it practical to make the upper end of thevertical leg of the lever 50 solid without the slot 53 and to simply tapa round hole through said end for the stud 62, it would not be necessaryto provide any adjustable connection between the upper leg of this leverand the slide 61, but it will be obvious that it would be quite out ofthe question to make a machine of this description in which most of theparts are cast, so that when assembled the round hole tapped in theupper leg of the lever 50 would always be precisely the same distancefrom the pivotal'point 49. It will also be clear that in such proposedconstruction a slight variation in the horizontal plane of this holewould effect a marked variation from the proper and uniform movement ofthe knife, since the distance between the stud 62 and the pivotal point49 would be variable, and therefore the movement of the sliding carriage30, caused by the swing of the lever, would sometimes be more andsometimes be less in rounding the same size and style of hat. I havetherefore provided for an adjustable connection between the block 61 andthe'upper leg of the lever 50, so that by elevating or lowering theblock 54 by means of the screw 55 I obtain a greater or lesser movementof the sliding carriage.

In rounding some styles of hats the brims of the sames styles increasein width in the various sizes precisely as much as the crowns of thehats enlarge radially, and in such hats if the crown of a hat increasedradially an eighth of an inch all around the brim would likewiseincrease an eighth of an inch all around; but this is not true of hats,generally speaking, for the brims increase in width a trifle more thanthe diameter of the hatcrowns, and this proportion, whatever it may be,is fixed and is preserved in the rounding of hats of various sizes.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will ICC IIO

be seen that the effective lengths of the two legs of the lever 50 aremeasured by the distances, respectively, between the pivotal points 49and 52 and the pivotal points 49 and O2, and in the particulararrangement shown the effective lengths of these legs are the same; butsince the block 54 has a vertical adjustment within the upper extremityof the vertical leg it will be readily understood that the eifeetivelength of this leg can be increased or shortened by the adjustment ofsaid block.

In rounding a hat, should it be ascertained that the movement of theclamping mechanism in securing a hat does not carry the knife quite asfar back as desired, the operator will readily understand that the throwof the upper vertical leg of the lever is a trifle short, and thereforehe merely corrects the error by backing the screw 55, thus normallyelevating the block 54 and giving to the sliding carriage 30 the benefitof a longer radial swing of said leg.

It will thus be seen that delicate adjustments of the knife may beeffected, not only independent of the templet, but also independent ofthe screw 58.

The adjustment of the sliding carriage by means of the screw 58is alsoan independent adjustmentand is very quick and efficient when it becomesnecessary to adjust the knife for rounding special widths of brims, aswell as in effecting the initial adjustment of the knife, ashereinbefore set forth.

It will thus be seen that in addition to the general movements of theknife in traversing an ovoidal circuit during a rounding operation theknife has two adjustments that are independent of each other, each ofwhich is of great value in hat-rounding machines.

During the operation of rounding a hat the shoe 51 slides freely throughthe groove 44 in the collar 43, and all the movable parts supported onthe frame 6 will of course be carried back and forth in harmony with themovements of the main slide 21.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a hand-operated rounding-machine, the combination of the mainslide, the knifecarriage capable of sliding in ways in said main slide,the block 59 rigid with said carriage as to the general slidingmovements of the latter, the slide 61 having a vertical reciprocationwithin ways in said block and provided with circular stud 62, thebell-crank 5O pivoted to an extension from the main slide and havingnear the extremity of its upper leg an elongated slot, the block 54capable of sliding freely within said slot and having a circularaperture within which the stud 62 extends, the adjusting-screw 55connected to the block 54, the spindle for operating the hat-clampingmechanism, and operative connections between the lower leg of thebell-crank and said spindle whereby said knife-carriage and clampingmechanism will move in harmony, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the standard having secured thereto the hollowbushing 4, the swinging frame loosely journaled around said bushing, therotatory spindle 17 within said bushing and carrying the screw 20, thehat-supporting platform and the templet secured around said bushing atthe upper end thereof, the clamping mechanism supported on said platformand operatively connected to said spindle, the nut engaging said screw,the grooved collar 43 loose around the spindle and capable of areciprocatory sliding movement, connections between said nut and collarwhereby sliding movements are communicated to the latter from theformer, the main slide adapted to reciprocate in suitable ways in theswinging frame, mechanism for imparting reciprocation to said slidedirectly from said templet, the carriage capable of reciprocation withinsaid slide, the headblock supported on said carriage, theknifesupporting carrier properly mounted on said block, the block 56within suitable ways in said carriage, the head-block 59 secured to theblock 56, the slide61 capable of reciprocation in vertical ways in theblock 59 and having a laterally-extending round stud 62, the. bell-crank50 pivoted to an extension from the main slide and having near the extremity of its upper leg an elongated slot and provided with a shoewhich is pivoted to the extremity of its lower leg and extends withinthe groove in the collar 43, the block 54 capable of sliding freelywithin said slot and having a circular aperture within which the stud 62extends, and the adjusting-screw 55 swiveled to the block 54,substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the sliding carriage 30 having ways 57, the block56 within said ways, the head-block 59 secured to the block 56, theslide 61 capable of reciprocating within vertical ways in the block 59and having a laterally-extending circular stud 62, the sliding groovedcollar 43, the main slide within which said carriage is adapted toreciprocate, the bell-crank lever pivoted to said slide and providedwith a pivoted shoe at its lower leg extending within a groove in saidcollar and having a vertically-disposed slot in its upper leg, theadjustable block within said slot and having a circular aperture withinwhich the stud 62 extends the clamping mechanism, the spindle foroperating the clamping mechanism, and means automatically operated andcontrolled by said spindle for effecting the sliding movements of saidcollar whereby the bell-crank lever is rocked and the sliding carriagereciproeated, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES HENRY REID.

lVitnesses:

U RBANE B. DUNAWAY, JENNIE B. IVHITE.

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